Automatic variable pitch propeller



May 7, 1935. l.. M. TAYLOR K AUTOMATIC VARIABLE PITCH PROPELLER Filed April 19, 1934 R/veys a ML. JJ 477-0 Patented May 7, 1935l A i, l

UNITED nSTATES PATENT OFFlCE AUTOMATIC VARIABLE PITCH PROPELLER Lester M. Taylor, Dayton, Ohio Application April 19, 1934, Serial No. 721,351

4 Claims. (Cl. 17o-163) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G- 757) The invention described herein may be manuing cap II. The housing 9 ris further provided factured and used by or for the Government for with a bearing cap I2 to :permit ready removal governmental purposes, without the payment to of a driven shaft I3 therefrom. One extremity me of any royalty thereon. of the driven shaft I3 is provided with a clutch 5 This invention relates to means for maintainmember I4, adapted for engaging the combined 5 ing constant engine revolutions during all ma collar and clutch member I0, while the other neuvers of aircraft where the pilot employs fixed .extremity thereof is provided with a driving throttle settings. gear I5. Longitudinal movement of the com- By means of my invention, propeller blades bined collar and clutch member Il) is accomare further automatically adjusted to that pitch pushed through actuation of a forked lever Ie, 1o

v angle which will permit maximum power output pvoted about a journal I'I, mounted in the housduring take-olf and climb. ing 9. Alternate coincidence of the longitudinal As the aircraft continues to ascend, my inaxis of the forked lever I 6 with axis X--X, then vention still further effects readjust-ment of pitch aXiS Y-Y, eeCi'fS alternate disengagement, then angle to that best suited to each decrease in engagement, of the combined collar and clutch 15 horse-power available with constantly increasing member l0 and the Chillen member, |4- altitude. From the description of Figs. 1 and 2 which Still another object of my invention is to autofollows, it Will become apparent that 'that P01- matically eliminate increase in engine revolution tion of my inventonwhich pertains solely to following execution by an aircraft of a diving changing the pitch of propeller blades, may be maneuver. readily accomplished through employment of With the foregoing and other objects in View, numerous groupings. 0f dissimilar perils Such Which will appear as the description proceeds, that each resulting mechanism is structurally the' invention consists of certain new and novel different from its predecessor, though each aeimprovements in automatic, variable-pitch procomplishes the same result. A propeller shaft pellers which will be hereinafter more fully il- I8 is journalled t0 an aircraft Supporting the lustrated and described in the accompanying Same. The forward extremity of the propeller drawing and more particularly pointed. out in shaft I8 is splined to receive 21 propeller hub the appended claims: I9, the former being xedly secured y.to the lat- 0 Referring to the drawing, in which numerals ter by means of a Check nut 20 and a Cotter :so

of like character designate similar parts throughpin 2I. Propeller blades 22a and 22D are jourout the several claims:' t nalled to the propeller hub I9 by lmeans of Fig. 1 is a side view in partial cross-section bearing collars 23a and 23h and thrust bearings of one embodiment of my invention. v24. Worm gears 25a and 25b are screwed into Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line the baSeS of the propeller blades 22a and 2211 '35' 2-2 of Fig. 1. 'and locked by set screws 26 while the bearing Fig. 3 is a side View of a. second embodiment collars 23a and 2322 are similarly screwed into of my invention. the propeller hub I9 and locked against rota- Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line tion therewith by set screws 21. The aft por- 40 4-4 of`Fig. 3. tion of the propeller hub I9 is furnished with 40 In Fig. 1 there are xed with reference to an a housing 28 provided with a split cover plate aircraft supporting the same, a motor I and a 23 and retaining screws 30. The plate 29 acts shaft disengaging mechanism 2. A power source as a longitudinal guide for a double-faced pin- 3, switch 4, and rheostat 5 are operatively conion gear 3| journalled to the propeller shaft nected to the motor- I. Through varied adjust- I8 by means of a bearing 32. The outer face 45 ments of a control arm 6 with contact points 0f the gear 3| iS in IneSh With the driving gear la through 'Ie of the rheostat 5, the motor I is I5 0fv the meohaniSm 2- AS ShOWn in Fig. 2, rotated at a series of selected speeds. A drive the inner face of the gear 3| is in mesh with shaft 8, connected to the motor I through a suita pinion gear 33h, Which in 'Gurn engages a able system of reduction gears, is journalled tov pinion gear 3512. through an intermediate gear 5o a housing 9 of the disengaging mechanism 2 and 34h. splined at its outermost extremity to freely slid- In Fig. l, the'pinion gear 35a iS Xedly ably support a combined collar and clutch memattached to a shaft 36a, which in turn ber I0. The drive shaft 8 may be readily deis journalled to the propeller hub I9 by means tached from the housing 9 by removal of a bearof bearings 3Ia and 38a. A worm 39a is also 55 while rotating during flight.

Arod. 6| pivotallysecured to the levers fixed to the shaft 36a. Since the worm 38a. is secured against longitudinal movement by the bearings 31a and 38a, it irreversibly locks the worm gear 25a and attached propeller blade 22a against rotation with respect to the bearing collar 23a. On the other hand, any desired change in pitch ofv the propeller blade 22a may be accomplished by appropriate rotation of the worm 39a.

Fig. 3 shows a second embodiment of my invention in which a propeller shaft 40 is journalled to an aircraft supporting the same. The forward extremity of the propeller shaft 40 is splined to receive a propeller hub 4I, the former being xedly secured to the latter lby means of a check-nut 42 and a cotter pin 43. Propeller blades 44a Vand 44h are journalled to the propeller hub 4| by means of bearing collarsv 45a and 45h and locked againstrotation therewith by set screws 46. Bevel gears -41a and 41h are xedly secured to the bases of the propeller blade 44. Thrust bearings 48 are inserted between the bevel gears 41a and 41h and the bearing collars 45a and 45h to permit the propeller blades 44a and 44h to turn freely The aft portion of the propeller hub 4| is furnished with a housing 49 provided with a split cover plate 56 and retaining screws 30. The plate 50 secures a combined cam and pinion gear 5| against longitudinal movement lwith respect to the housing 49. It will be noted that the pinion portion of the gear 5| is concentric about the longitudinal axis M-M of the propeller shaft 40, while'the cam portion of the gear 5| is eccentric thereto, being concentric about an axis N-N. A ring gear 52 is mounted upon the cam portion of the gear 5I. Through concentric relationship with the axis N-N, the upper portion of the gear 52 is momentarily held in meshed engagement with the upper portion of an internal gear 53, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Since the former is provided with a smaller number of teeth than the latter, a gap 54 exists between the lower portions of the gears 52 and 53. In operation, the ring gear 52 executes .a combined wabbling and lrotational motion within the internal gear 53. A bevel gear 55 is mounted upon a bearing 56 secured to the propeller shaft 40. The'bearing 56 also supports the gear 5|, which is maintained in operable engagement with the gear 55 by means of grooves 51 provided in the aft surfaces of the gear 55 and projections 58 provided upon the `cam portion of the gear 5|.

It is obvious from the above description that the propeller blade pitch-changing .means of either Figs. 1 or 3 may be separately combined with the motor and associated parts shown in Fig. 1. Remote control of the shaft disengaging mechanism 2 is accomplished through a lever 59 pivoted about a pin 60 and a yoked I6 and 53 by means of pins 62 and 63.

Fig. 3 discloses an alternate mechanism performing the saine 'function as the motor v| and associated parts shown in Fig. 1. A combined collar and beveled gear 64 is splined to the propeller shaft 40 in suchy a manner that free longitudinal movement thereof may be effected by means of a forked lever 65 pivoted about a pin 66. A combined driving plate and beveled gear 61 is held in meshed engagement with the gear 64 by means of a bracket 68. A housing 69 is xed with reference to an aircraft supporting the same. A shaft 10 is journalled to the housing 69 by means of bearing caps 1| and 12 in such a manner as to permit free longitudinal as well as rotational movement. A driven wheel 13 is xed to the central portion of the shaft 10, one.

extremity of which is attached to an extremity of the governormechanism 14. The other extremity of the governor mechanism 14 is secured to the combined collar and clutch member I0 of the shaft disengaging mechanism 2. During longitudinal adjustment of the gear 64 and associated parts, the bracket 68 is secured against rotation with respect to the propeller shaft 40' through sliding engagement ofthe projection 15 extending upward into a slot 16 provided in the bearing cap 12. Remote control of the forked lever 65 is accomplished through a lever 11 pivoted about a pin 18 and a yoked rod 19 pivotally secured to the levers 65 and 11 by means of pins 80 and 8|. It will be noted that the central portion of the lever 11 is adapted to receive a semicircular plate 82 provided with scale graduations 83a through 83g adapted for ali ent with a line of reference 8,4 provided in th ever 11.

The operation of that embodiment of my invention which is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is as follows. 'I'he contact points 1a through 1e of the rheostat 5 are so arranged that the shaft 8 may be revolved at a series of known rates of speed comparable in magnitude to a like series of known rates of speed of the shaft I3, obtainable by the pilot through proper setting of his engine throttle, the exact magnitude of which may be readily checked by reference to the tachometer connected to the aircraft engine. Assuming the contact point lacorresponds to full engine throttle and that the pilot has taken off under that condition of throttle setting, having previously positioned the lever 59 upon the axis Xl-Xl, placed the arm 6 upon the contact point 1a and closed the switch 4; after check reference to his tachometer, the pilot repositions the lever 59 upon the axis Y1-Y1. With engagement of the clutch members I0 and I4, the gear I5 is driven jointly by the motor and the propeller shaft I8.

Let it be assumed that the pilot places his aircraft in an attitude of steep climb. The forward travel of the aircraft is greatly reduced over that covered in normal take-off and climb, resulting in increased horse-power absorption by the propeller blades, which at take-off were adjusted for the last-mentioned flight attitude. With increased horse-power absorption, the revolutions of the propeller shaft I8 commence to fall below those of the combined shafts 8 and I3. This revolution difference imparts a turning moment to the gear 3| with reference to vthe propeller hub I9, resulting in rotation of the propeller blades 22a. and 22h about their longltudinal axes to a setting which substantially absorbs full throttle horse-power.

Re ersal of the aforementioned blade adjusttheir turn automatically cared for.

It is well to note at this point that my invention nds equal application to all ranges of throttle setting. As the pilot progressively closes his engine throttle, he effects corresponding readjustments of the arm 6 with respect to the contact points 1a through 1e of Fig. 1, or corresponding readjustments of the line of reference 84 on the lever 11 with respect to the scale graduation 83a through 83g on the semicircular plate 82 of Fig. 3, either manually or automatically through a proper system of linkage be-v the arm 6 or the effected through varying the distance of the driven wheel 13 away from the center of the driving plate portion of the gear 61. The governor 14 provides an additional means for shifting the driven wheel 13 laterally along its axis of rotation, thereby automatically compensating for sudden increases or decreases in the rotation of the propellershaft 40.A Following proper coordination of engine throttle and the lever 11, the pilot repositions the lever 5B from the axis X1-X1 to the axis Y1-Y1. Upon engagement of the clutch members l and I4 the gear I is driven jointly by the governor- 14 and the propeller shaft 40. If, through transition from one aircraft maneuver to another, the revolutions of the propeller shaft 40 commence to raise above or fall below those of the combined governor 14 and shaft I3, the resulting revolution difference imparts a turning movement to the gear 5| with reference to the propeller hub 41, resulting in rotation of the .propeller blades 44a and 44h about their longitudinal axis to a setting which substantially absorbs full horsepower available for each given throttle setting.

I claim: l

1. In a pitch control mechanism for aircraft arotatable mount including propeller blades freely adjustable about their longitudinal axes, means carried by said mount for changing the pitch of said propeller blades, a shaft including means for driving the same at a series of predetermined constant speeds, and means for operatively coupling said pitch changing means with said shaft upon attainment of a predetermined relative rotational rate between said 'shaft and rotatable mount such that any deviation from the aforesaid relative rotational rate automatically actuates said propeller pitch changing means. l

2. In a pitch control mechanism for aircraft a propeller hub having blades freely adjustable about their longitudinal axes, means carried by said hub for changing the pitch'- of said propeller blades, a shaft including a motor for driving the same at a series of predetermined constant Speeds, and means for manually coupling said pitch changing means with said shaft upon attainment of a predetermined relative rotational rate between said shaft and propeller hub such that any deviation from the aforesaid relative rotational rate automatically changes the pitch of said propeller blades.

' 3. In a pitch control mechanism for aircraft a propeller hub fixed to the crankshaft of an engine and having blades freely adjustable about their longitudinal axes, means carried by said hub for changing the pitchof said propeller blades, an independent shaft including a motor actuated by said engine crankshaft for drivingsaid independent shaft at a series of predetermined constant speeds, and means for manually coupling said pitch changing means with said independent shaft upon attainment of a predetermined relative rotational rate between said shaft and propeller hub such that any deviation from the aforesaid relative rotational rate automatically changes the pitch of said propeller blades.

4. In a pitch control mechanism for aircraft a propellerhub xed to the crankshaft of an engine and having blades freely adjustable about their longitudinal axes, means carried by saidA hub for changing the pitch of said propeller blades, an independent shaft including an electric motor for' driving said shaft at a series of predetermined constant speeds, and means for manually coupling said pitch changing means with said independent shaft upon attainment of a predetermined relative rotational rate between said shaft and propeller hub such that any deviation from the aforesaid lrelative rotational rate automatically changes the pitch of said propeller blades. i

LESTER M. TAYLOR. 

